If you're technically minded, good with your hands and flexible about where you work, consider boatbuilding. You could be working on boats and ships anywhere in the world: carrying out repairs and maintenance, re-fits, conversions and building from scratch.

You'll need good practical skills, the ability to work in a team and an interest in learning traditional boatbuilding skills as well as modern engineering methods.

CAREERS

Boat and ship builders and repairers construct, install and repair wooden structures and fittings, and shape, position, rivet and seal metal plates and girders to form the metal structures and frameworks for marine craft.

2173 Jobs in the southwest

2006 Jobs by2020

£15000 Starting Salary

Ship and hovercraft officers command and navigate ships and other craft, co-ordinate the activities of officers and deck and engine room ratings, operate and maintain communications equipment on board ship and undertake minor repairs to engines, boilers and other mechanical and electrical equipment.

4446 Jobs in the southwest

4884 Jobs by2020

£22000 Starting Salary

Seen Enough?

Meet Our Staff

Simon Combe

Workshop Technician - Boatbuilding

Simon is a Falmouth Marine School alumni and has worked with a range of boatyards in the construction of yachts and small craft. He supervises both the wood and composite workshops at Falmouth Marine School’s boatbuilding training centre in Ponsharden boatyard, helping learners on a day-today basis with developing their practical skills, techniques and project planning. He also acts as a consultant with the College’s Marine Innovation Service, assisting local businesses who wish to develop their processes and products in composite boat manufacturing (FRP).

OUR STUDENTS

Alex Somers

The apprenticeship offers the best chance of decent wages while you learn. I really enjoy working at Duchy Hydraulics. I'm always paired with an experienced employee so I can learn from them. Attending college one day a week breaks up my working days and allows me to gain a qualification and wider marine engineering skills through the various projects we work on.

Joseph Rasmussen

Through doing the yacht fit out and composites I got to work with the National Maritime Museum Cornwall restoring their historical boat collection, further developing the skills I gained on my course. The workshops are great and the tutors are really approachable.

OUR STATS

100% of our boatbuilding students say that teaching on their course is good.

Marine industries employ nearly 90,000 people in the UK

Experienced marine engineers can earn between £28,000 and £50,000 a year

Recreational boat and yacht building in the UK is worth £905m

Minesweeper vessels are one of the largest glass fibre reinforced polymer composite boats fabricated

The Cornwall College Group

We are the largest education and training provider in the region, with over 15,000 learners each year, 2,000 of whom are studying a university programme with us. Our achievements are plentiful and our proven track record of over 10,000 apprentices in ten years makes us the most successful provider of work based learning in the South West.